Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt has released an open letter defending his handling of top recruit Mitch Mustain, claiming he hasn't been job hunting and denying he had an affair with a local TV reporter.

However, Nutt didn't deny being on the grassy knoll, being the subject of You're So Vain or voting for Sanjaya.

Nutt felt that the letter was necessary since Arkansas fans used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain his cell phone records, including instant message records he sent to the TV reporter, Donna Bragg. Those records showed Nutt exchanged 1,063 text messages with the woman between Nov. 30 and Jan. 11, including once just 19 minutes before the start of the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1.

1,063 text messages?! In 43 days?! Is this guy a major college football coach or a fucking stalker? Folks, that works out to 24.7 messages A DAY. Just over one AN HOUR. High school kids don't send this many text messages to the girl they lost their virginity to a week before prom. Put it this way, Yost and I have been running this blog since October, 2005, and we've only put up roughly 1,400 posts. In over a year and a half!

And can you even imagine Jim Tressel or Steve Spurrier or Pete Carroll or Lloyd Carr or Mack Brown - or just about any other coach for that matter - texting a reporter less than 20 minutes before their bowl game?! Hell, Carr doesn't even like talking to them at the required press conferences!

But Nutt defended the messages.

"My communications with Ms. Bragg have concerned her work as a professional fundraiser for a non-profit organization dedicated to providing services to the developmentally disabled, her insights regarding the media, words of condolence and support regarding the loss of my mother-in-law after her battle with cancer, and information relating to her close friend who was diagnosed with cancer," Nutt wrote.

Riiiiiight.

Gee, apparently the only thing Nutt didn't text this woman about was his tax return, her thoughts on world peace and how she thinks The Sopranos will end.

But hey, who are we to judge? I mean, it's totally normal for a married coach to send 1,063 text messages to a reporter in a month and a half, right? I'm sure even as we speak, Lloyd Carr is texting Drew Sharp and other members of the Detroit Free Press for their "insights regarding the media." In fact, I'll bet Carr was doing that during last Saturday's spring game.

Then again, maybe if Nutt would have been paying more attention to his team than his Blackberry, maybe the Razorbacks wouldn't have lost their last three games of the season. I guess before that he must have only been sending 20 text messages a day.

7 comments:

The only thing more entertaining than watching Houston Nutt during a football game has been this off-season drama. I never thought I would say that, because researchers who study ADD (or whatever it's called now) should make a case study of Houston Dale Nutt. He would make the ultimate poster boy for the disorder.

The volume of text messages surprises you, does it? If you get to see him coach another game at Arkansas, pay close attention to him on the sidelines, as I always do. Crazier than a sack of rabid weasels, indeed.

It will be a sad day when they remove 'the Nutt' from his post, but I don't see how he's going to survive this.

"And can you even imagine Jim Tressel or Steve Spurrier or Pete Carroll or Lloyd Carr or Mack Brown - or just about any other coach for that matter - texting a reporter less than 20 minutes before their bowl game?"

Gonna have to agree with every single reply written so far. I hate to see Nutt leave Arkansas, but I'm not sure how else the Admin and Ad think they can save whatever face they think they still have.As for coaches texting during bowl games- agree 100%.Tressel - his tailorLloyd - texting his plays to CarrollCarroll - humanitarian crapSpurrier - reserving a tee time at Augusta

As far as Carr, if he was to text message, I'd think he'd jusy key up the words in the message, walk over to the person he was talking to, and shove the message in his face, repeatedly if need be. Coach Carr don't need no space signals to deliver a "grrrrrrrr" message.

But back to the OP:It'd be sad to see the Houston Nutt saga end on such a... cliche note. Sure the amount of obsessiveness is different, but if Will Ferrell's "A Season in Arkansas: The Houston Nutt Story" is gonna have some inspiration behind it, Nutt has to be left in his position until he does something far more outlandish.

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